1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to an apparatus for packaging, transporting, and storing. More specifically, the invention relates to a frame system for packaging, transporting, and storing elongated members, such as tubing or pipe. More specifically, the invention relates to a unitary lifting plate for attachment to a frame for packaging, transporting, and storing elongated members.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of elongated members, including but not limited to piping and tubing, are used in construction projects and other activities, such as petroleum drilling and delivery operations and sewer system projects. For example, the drilling and production of hydrocarbon wells typically requires large quantities of tubing as a component of a drillstring. Normally, this tubing is available in sections of twenty to forty feet in length. These individual sections are then connected together to form the drillstring. A standard hydrocarbon well drilled on land may employ thousands of feet of tubing, requiring thousands of individual sections of tubing to be handled while drilling the well. A deep-water offshore well may require considerably more tubing.
Elongated member packaging systems are recommended for shipping, transporting, handling, and storing of the elongated members between the member's site of fabrication and its site of operation. Typically, the elongated members are transported from the fabrication facility to the well site by truck or supply boat. The ability to effectively package, store, and transport the elongated members can save substantial time and expense, directly impacting the economies and efficiencies of a project. It is thus desirable to have equipment for and methods of effectively packaging, storing, and transporting elongated members without damaging the elongated members.
Various prior art systems for storing pipes include cross members that have depressions therein. The depressions are generally concave cavities into which pipes are laid. Typically, multiple cross members are used in a system, with rows of pipes being placed between the cross members. The multiple cross members are then coupled to one another, typically at the edges of the cross members, by one or more steel or nylon bands, or by a tightening frame. This secures the cross members, and thus the elongated members, together. Such systems adequately package elongated members, but in order to move the elongated members, lifting slings must be placed around the packaged elongated members. This has several drawbacks.
First, the lifting sling contacts the elongated members. Some elongated members are made from highly sensitive material, such as chrome alloy, or have a surface sensitive to uncontrolled contact, which requires that the members not contact the lifting sling. Second, placing a lifting sling around the packaged members is logistically difficult and time consuming because a person needs to thread the sling between the ground and the bottom of the packaged members or, if multiple packages are stacked upon one another, between the top of one set of packaged members and the bottom of another set of packaged members.
Additionally, some prior art lifting frames comprise a plate with a hole in it welded to a steel frame. In such cases, the force created when the bundle of tubes is lifted becomes focused at the weld. Such an arrangement has a natural weak point at its weld, thereby lessening the amount of load the lifting frames can carry.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by utilizing a unitary lifting plate having a lifting eye and an opening. The unitary configuration provides a lifting plate with no welds, and consequently no weak points. Additionally, the opening distributes the load more evenly over the frame than prior art plates with holes. Additionally, the lifting eye allows the sling or other lifting apparatus to move the packaged members without the sling or other lifting apparatus touching the elongated members.